Megaman ZX: On fate's wings
by Wandering outlaw
Summary: Set after the events of ZX: Serpent has been defeated, but peace is a fickle bird. Maverick attacks are still happening, and more dangers are on the horizon. The Guardians and the Chosen One of the Biometals now face the challenges that come with a world with no leader, and the uncertain future seems to be coming ever closer...
1. Mission start

The skies above Area C were cloudy and blue; the sun was shinning above the city with radiant beams of light. A tranquil day by all rights.

However, in those skies was a different story.

Prairie let out a deep sigh, the Guardian HQ was an odd assortment of individuals, and oddly enough, their would be newest member should the, well, the strangest. But, she wasn't.

It was everyone one else. The effort to keep them all in line was trying enough.

Speaking of which…

"Reroute the com system to her headset, try to get a connection through." Prairie said to her three loyal bridge officers.

"On it." One of them, Marguerite, confirmed.

"Connection established in three...two…one…" The link was established, and Prairie opened her mouth to speak. But…

"**RULES OF NATURE!"**

* * *

"Turn it off F!" Aile grunted as the Giga Aspis tired to slam it's tail against the chosen one, barely keeping it in place with the Zx Saber, Aile really did not need heavy rock music right now.

"Oh come on! It fits!" The Biometal know as Model F whined, "You're even holding the attack up and everything!"

"It's trying to crush me!" Aile yelled desperately, managing to slide the massive tail off her sword and into the ground, where it promptly decided to try to smack her in the stomach. Barely catching the blow, Aile had braced her sword against the attack.

"Throw it! Come on throw it!" Model F cheered, "Come on, be like Ra-"

"That's…enough!" Grunting, Aile, with all her strength enhanced by the Biometals, lifted the Mechaniloid into the air, and for lack of a better word, threw it.

It was an odd sight, seeing a snake robot fly through the air. This briefly stunned some tourists who were watching the birds from far away with binoculars. They were even more surprised when a red and white blur somehow jumped onto the flying machine and ran across it.

"WOOOO!" Model F yelled as Aile dashed right for the Giga Aspis head unit.

"Fernir, please." The calmer Model H said, coming as close to a sigh as it could.

"Well, they learned something, at least." Model Z said drly.

"Why did we let them play that again?" Model X asked wearily.

Aile, for her part, performed a mid air leap and armed the Zx saber. Time seemed to slow down as she approached the most vulnerable part of the machine, it's neck, her sword reached an overhead cut, and Aile swung.

"HYAAAH!" She screamed as the plasma sword cut the Giga Aspis' head in in twine. The Mechaniloid's insides white hot from the blow with now exposed wires and circuits. Somersaulting in the air, Aile landed on one knee and calmly deactivated the Zx saber.

Doing her best to ignore the resulting explosion that resulted from the Giga Aspis head blowing up, the transporter tapped her headset, turning down the volume on the heavy rock music that Model F had turned on. Really, they had just played the game when she was recovering from the battle with Serpent, she didn't think F would like it THAT much…then again, why wouldn't he?

"-Le? Aile!" Prairie's voice came in over the COM, causing the Chosen to flinch.

"Yes?" She asked tentatively.

"Ah, good. What was that?" Prairie asked from the bridge of the Guardian HQ, Aile could feel her eyebrow being raised at the choice of music.

"It was Model F…" She muttered, "Anyway, I'm just about wrapped up here. Heading back to the transerver now. "

"About that, there's been sighting of Mavericks close to Area E, and you're the closest." Prairie sounded apologetic, "Sorry, I know that it's been one attack after another, but it's been tough with Slither Ic going out of business."

"It's fine." Aile sighed, "Anyway, heading there now. Did the plant get restarted?"

"Without Serpent's backing, the city officials are scrambling to supply whatever they can." Prairie said, confirming Aile's suspicion, but she sounded downtrodden, "To be honest, Serpent was the one keeping the city alive. Without him, it won't be long before the civilians revolt."

"….." Aile didn't respond.

"Don't get the wrong idea," The commander continued, "What Serpent did was unforgivable. You and I both know that, but he was a symbol to everyone else. With his death, and Model W being released, it's practically anarchy. The Guardians are doing all we can, but it's not enough."

"It never is." Aile said, then shook her head, "Moving on to Area E. I'll let you know when the Mavericks are gone."

"Roger. Guardian HQ out."

* * *

Cancelling the connection, Prairie let out a tired sigh. Really. It was one thing after another. The rebellion, the fall of Neo Arcadia, and then finally Area Zero now know as Area C, the place of beginnings and endings, then a weary peace, if it could be called that.

_Ciel, what would you do?_

Shaking her head to clear out the thoughts of the missing scientist, Prairie observed the halcyon skies from the Grand Nuage's bridge. Really, it was so easy to be fooled by the clear sky and puffy clouds, to forget the unrest on the ground. But they had a duty, they were guardians after all, it's what they did.

Speaking of….

"How's the Area G restoration project coming along?" Prairie asked without even turning around as the doors slid open behind her.

Fleuve let out a chuckle, "You must tell me how you do that." He said.

Little did he know, Prairie had a mirror nicely set up just so she could see whoever was behind her without having to turn around, but Fleuve didn't need to know that.

"Anyway, Area G is still suffering heavy damage from Fistleo's rampage. Repairs are underway, but with the rising increase in Maverick attacks, there could be danger of shutting it down." Fleuve said, shaking his head in disdain, "Honestly, with Serpent gone and his flunkies disappearing, you think that raids would die down."

"He had a lot of factories built explicitly for making them. It wouldn't surprise me that they would be automated." Prairie said, "Still, the aftermath of a disaster is often worse then the disaster itself, we just need to hold on."

Fleuve opened his mouth to respond but a sharp chime from the communications console.

"Ma'am, Maquereau's brigade has touched down in Area I. Salvage operations are underway." Gardenia said.

"Good. Hopefully there'll be something we can use down there."

Another chime.

"Aile has entered Area I, should I open a COM link?"

"No. She'll be fine on her own." Prairie shook her head, "Tell Muguet to prep the med bay for injuries."

"Ma'am?" Marguerite turned to look at the Guardian commander.

Prairie sighed heavily, "When have you ever seen a Maverick raid without causalities?"

* * *

Aile braced herself as the door from the E-7 server opened up and walked away from the Transever room.

"Well, this brings back memories." Aile remarked as she observed the area where she and Hivolt dueled for possession of Model H, "He was rather chatty wasn't he?" She said, "Kind of a stuck up though."

"Well, he had Model H. So it's a given." Model Z calmly, letting Model H bristle at the comment.

"Grk! Zero, how-"

"Harpuia." Model X cut in calmly, "Now is not the time."

"M-my apologies Master X." Model H said sheepishly.

Model F coughed out something like "Kiss-ass." Choosing to ignore the voices inside her head, Aile pressed on through the Area.

Maneuvering through the absurdly spaced power plant with model Hx, Aile spent a few moments observing the giant, heart like structure in the background.

"….I swear that thing gets creepier every time I come here." Aile sighed, standing on top of a platform above a very large drop.

"Indeed. Though it supplies power to the plant, it never ceases to disturb me." A new voice said from behind her.

Turning around, Aile saw a silver haired man in a green vest and a cape that vaguely resembled the coat Serpent wore. He held a broadsword encased in a red sheath, with both hands resting on the pommel, "Forgive me, I am Aeolus. I have dedicated myself to the restoration of this plant. And you are either an advanced repiold here to aid me, or you are a very small pseudoroid here to exterminate us." He grabbed the hilt and slowly drew the metal blade from its sheath, "If so, then I'm afraid your path ends here."

Aile titled her head at the speech, and put her hands up in a placating gesture, "Uh. Hold on. My name's Aile, I'm here to help. I'm with the Guardians."

"Do no think you can-" Aile quickly unmerged in front of him, the wounds from the fight with Serpent showing with bandages on her face, Aeolus blinked, "Oh, forgive me. I was not expecting that."

Aile shrugged, "Not a lot of people would."

Aeolus nodded, "Well then, forgive me miss?"

"Aile."

"Very well Miss Aile, if you are here to help us as you say, I would greatly appreciate it."

Aile placed a hand on her hip, "No problem, just tell me where to go."

Aeolus moved to the side, "This way, just down the ladder and through the hallway." Nodding in thanks, Aile moved past silver haired man and went onwards, "By the way, I must ask, where did you get that armor? It looked rather appealing."

Aile raised an eyebrow and looked back at the man, there was no trance of malice on his face, only curiosity.

"Er, sorry, this isn't something anyone can use. You have to be a chosen one, whatever that is." Aile explained.

If it deterred the man, he did not show it.

"I see, thank you."

Without a word, the man leaped from platform to platform, leaving a bewildered Aile alone on the ledge.

"Huh."

"What is it Aile?" Model H asked.

"It's just, I don't think we'll be seeing the last of him." Aile said, shrugging.

"It's probably just nerves." H replied.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Aile agreed, shifting back into Model Zx.


	2. The wheel of fate is turning

In the confinement of Area I's warehouse, Maquereau, a Reploid Guardian tasked with recovering whatever was salvageable in Area I, sighed as the pitter-patter of the constant rain pounded on his helmet. Observing the ruins where countless machines lay scattered, he motioned to his squad.

"Come on, the sooner we finish this, the sooner we get out of the rain." He said to his squad of mish-mashed troopers.

"Agreed." One of the soldiers, Carrelet, said, raising his plasma gun over his head in an attempt to block some of the rain drops.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" Cédre said cheerfully, casually hoisting her massive rocket launcher on her shoulder.

"Says you, this rain is killing me!" Another trooper, this one with reddish hair and a pulled up visor that rested on her head, Oeillet, desperately trying to shield herself from the rain by using her weapon the same way as Carrelet.

"Oh come on, even Hareng is doing better then you!" Cédre said, thumbing to the blond haired Reploid in the back, who was, at this point, also looking miserable, but trying, (and failing) to maintain some dignity. This earned a chuckle from Scombrésoce.

"Heh, blondie over there couldn't even go to a ice cream parlor without catching a cold." The goateed Reploid said.

"Hey that was only one time!" Hareng yelled.

"…."

"Eh? Truite? Something to say?" Scombrésoce asked, elbowing the lanky man in the ribs.

"Hey now, that's enough." A much bigger Repliod said, easily dwarfing the two and looming over them like a giant.

"Oh come on Thon, just having a bit of fun."

"Save it you two." Maquereau said, cutting them off, "You all know why we're here, we need to salvage whatever we can from the Warehouse."

"Shouldn't repair workers already be here?" Cédre asked.

"Normally they would, but Mavericks are still hanging around, so Prairie wanted us to clear it out and mark down anything of interest." He explained.

"What are we looking for?" Carrelet asked.

"Anything that can be used. This place used to house lots of schematics and blueprints sometimes even vehicles. Maybe even an airship or two if we get lucky." Maquereau continued.

"W-why was it shut down?" Truite stuttered out.

"You remember that Pseudoroid that Aile fought? Hurricaune? She was holding civilians here against their will. Ever since then, the local government put the place as off limits. "

"So we're trespassing." Cédre summed up.

"No, officially, it doesn't exist any more. You won't find it on any records or databases." The Squad leader said, "But, since it doesn't exist…."

"We were never here." Carrelet finished.

"Exactly."

"Gotta say," Cédre began, "This kinda feels like looting."

"Don't really have a choice," Hareng cut in, "we lost a lot of supplies against Serpent."

"Oh right, that Prometheus jerk tired to bring down the whole ship." Cédre nodded, "Hey, or is it just me, or does Aile do a lot of the heavy lifting?"

"What do you mean?" Oeillet asked.

"I mean, she always seems to be the one who's running from place to place, taking on the big tasks, like the Pseudoroids. Hell, she even had to save Maquereau here twice."

"Methinks it was on purpose…." Scombrésoce said, elbowing the aforementioned Reploid as they walked, who, in turn, was grateful for the fact his visor covered pretty much all of his face.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Maquereau asked.

"We all know you like her." The older reploid placed an arm around him, leaning him in close, "Gotta say, didn't think you were the submissive type, but what can I say? She's pretty cute after-OOF!" Whatever line of thought Scombrésoce was going on was cut off as Maquereau firmly drove his elbow into his stomach.

"Shut up." He ordered.

"Hold on, I wanna hear more of this." Cédre said, coming up to the two.

"Oooh, somebody's got a crush~" Oeillet added teasingly, matching their pace.

"Shut up!"

* * *

"Achoo!" Aile sneezed, bringing a finger up to her nose and sniffing, "Is somebody talking about me?"

"Focus Aile." Model Z said.

"Right right." Aile said, unmerging to crawl through a vent, "Ugh, who designed this place?"

"It was probably less complicated when it was first made." Model X explained, "That, and the fact that most plants did not need a lot of staff onsite. Mostly automated drones and the like, even Neo Arcadia had undermanned facilities."

"It was mostly due to the high level of risk that came with the job. Even for Reploids designed for the task." Model H chimed in, "Power failures, radiation leaks, and electrical outrages. It was a dangerous job with the waning energy supply, even more so with the rebellion going on."

"So, explain this." Aile said, now merged again in Model Zx and now facing a pile driver that was working as a trash compactor.

"….Again, very dangerous." Model H reiterated, "But you are going through the industrial area, so it's a given."

"Right….Wait, what?" Aile said, stopping in her tracks just short of the wall that would lead her up to the next area.

"The industrial area. It works mainly by supplying materials for the plant, hence the compactors. I assumed you knew this."

"…No, though it seems obvious in hindsight." Aile sighed, then began scaling the wall, "At the time, I was just following the Biometal signal, so I didn't really pay attention to the signs."

"Ah, well, the quickest way to anything is a straight line." Model H nodded, "You were probably just plowing through anything that stood in your way."

"A philosophy Fenrir is fond of." Model L said happily.

"Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Model F said gruffly.

"Moving on…." Aile sighed, having finally reached the top in the span of that short conversation. Leaping to the adjacent ledge, the transporter ran forward until she came to the giant gears. Using the Dash system to scale the opposite wall with relative ease, the Chosen one hopped over the step and jumped down the ladder.

Underneath the ladder was a motely band of wounded staff members, no more then five in number. A blond with pigtails tied a bandage around a leg belonging to a red eye man with a green helmet and mask that covered his mouth and nose. One of them, a tall man with glasses and a calm dissipation held a blaster pistol in one arm, the other injured with a laser burn.

"Come on, shore up those barricades. If those Mavericks get through we're done for." He ordered, a larger man with brown hair and hard features complied, putting a hard plate of metal over the second ladder.

"What's going on here?" Aile asked, drawing everyone's attention.

"Look out! It's another Maverick!" The man with the wounded leg tired to reach for a firearm.

"Hey hold on!" Aile quickly unmerged and held her hands up in a placating gesture like she did with Aeolus, "I'm human! Same as you."

"Who are you?" The pig tailed girl asked.

"I'm Aile, I'm with the Guardians." She said calmly, "I'm here to help."

"But you're so young." The girl said, looking awestruck, "Hey Lem, can I join the guardians?"

"No." The much bigger man responded.

"Oh come on! Please!"

"If you're here to help us, then how did you get through the back entrance?" The older man asked.

"I just climbed up." Aile responded, "I met that Aeolus guy on the way here. Can't you just call him?"

"Wh-" Whatever was about to be said was cut off as the barricaded entrance blew open by a powerful energy bomb.

"They're through!" The masked man scrambled for his gun. Without missing a beat, Aile merged again and leaped through the newly created hole. The Zx Saber in a downward stab that cut through a Galleon that was attempting to climb up the ladder with ease. Leaping off the wall, Aile somersaulted in mid air and blew off the head of another Galleon with the Zx buster. Landing in a roll, the Chosen calmly sliced another in twine by the waist.

Leaping to the air, Aile flipped over and became a razor blade of plasma to cut apart an Electric Dart, the crab Mechaniloid being torn apart by the attack. Landing in a kneeling position, Aile brought up the Zx Buster to scan for more threats.

Upon seeing none, she called back to the men and women upstairs, "Believe me now?" She asked.

The older man, who had leapt down when the sounds of fighting were over, nodded.

"I see. Thank you." He said, bowing politely.

"No problem." Aile replied, doing a casual gun twirl and placing a hand on her hip.

"One more thing, you said Aeolus correct?" The man asked.

"Yeah, he told me he was with you guys and where to go." Aile responded, smirking, "You know, silver hair, sword, green vest?"

The man looked confused, and shook his head, "I have never heard nor seen this Aelous."

Aile blinked, opened her mouth to say something, closed her mouth, then opened it again, and then closed it with a sharp 'click'.

"Wha?" She finally managed.

* * *

AN:Wow, I wasn't expecting people to review so fast, or to get this chapter up so quickly.

Anyway, thank you all for liking this story which I hope will continue for a long time.


	3. Rebel one: Action

"Exactly like I said, this Aeolus person you claim to have met has never worked here. If I were to wager a guess, I'd say he was mostly likely here to find out information about you." The man continued, "You have become something of a local legend after all, thanks to the rumors."

"Rumors?" Aile asked, a wry smirk came to the spectacled man's face.

"Yes, it all started back when Area G was set ablaze due to a Maverick attack. And to think, in that fire, the Guardians arrived, along with them, a red and white Maverick with long blond hair that leaped headfirst into burning buildings and saved many people. Then next, the missing people that had disappeared had all claimed to be saved by the same Maverick."

Aile titled her head, "You're awfully well informed mister…"

"Gary." The newly named man answered, pushing his spectacles up, "And I have to be. But more to the point, why else would one stage Maverick attack on a power plant? If they had heard of your exploits, then one would be enough to draw you out no?"

"But that's-"

"Insane, I know. But if a person were willing to go to lengths to gather information…"

"Then anything is an option." Aile finished, her shoulders sagging, "Great, another Serpent."

"If I may offer another observation, it's not likely that this Aeolus character you met is the one behind this attack. It is more likely someone had sent him here as a scout. Paving the way forward, if you will."

"What makes you say that?" Aile asked.

"You said you met him behind us correct?" Gary responded.

"Yeah, right next to the giant heart thing."

"I see, a little bit away from the Transceiver. Now think about it, if we were all holed up in here, and if you met him all the way over there, why would he be there if not to meet you?"

"Well, that could be…."

"Of course, this is all just an observation." Gary admitted, "But, on to more pressing matters, those Mavericks were merely the first wave, the second one is-"

The door behind them opened and three Galleons rushed through, their basic but deadly busters primed and ready.

"On it's way right now." Gary finished casually.

"Oh great." Aile sighed, taking aim with her Zx Buster at the nearest Maverick, and fired.

* * *

Maquereau leaned against the wall, waiting with bleated breath as the door opened a little too slow for this liking. Entering through the now open doorway, the Guardian scanned for any threats.

Aside from the ones behind him, that is.

"So, Maquereau likes Aile, but Aile herself doesn't know." Cédre said, placing a hand on her chin, clearly deep in thought.

"That's right, she's like a Anime protagonist!" Oeillet agreed, "Dense as a rock, but really nice. Also has long hair that gets spiky for some reason when she powers up."

"I see." Cédre nodded thoughtfully, and then curled her free hand (the one not holding a rocket launcher mind you) into a fist of determination, "I won't loose to you!" She stated, glaring at Maquereau with the white-hot fury of a thousand suns and/or older sister types.

This brought the normally sane Maquereau looking back at the two gossiping girls and sighed in annoyance, just why was these two brought along as well? Was someone just filling in space when making his team? Well, it made sense in a way, ever since the final attack on Serpent, there had been some casualties and resignations. Maquereau should probably consider himself lucky that he had a full squad at his back, rather then half of one. He was probably the only one in the Guardians with a full team, so all things considered it wasn't too bad.

At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Trying to ignore the feeling of Cédre glaring at the back of his head, Maquereau climbed down the ladders that would lead to the next area, glad for the respite for the rain. The rest of the team followed along, chatting about inane things to help past the time. Finally reaching the bottom, Maquereau opened the door and saw….nothing. Nothing at all, for it was pitch black and if you were to walk five feet without knowing where you going, odds are you would fall to your death thanks to a conveniently placed bottomless pit.

"Oh, great. This place." Scombrésoce drawled, his shoulders slumping, "The lightning in this part of the warehouse was knocked out, along with some bridges."

"Oh right, didn't Aile have to go through this part?" Cédre asked.

Carrelet nodded in conformation, "I heard her say that Model P helped her navigate. Apparently it supplies a low range radar."

"She couldn't have just used night vision?"

"You'd have to ask her." Carrelet shrugged, "Though she should, all things considered."

* * *

"ACHHO-WHOA!"

Barely ducking under one of those annoying electric pinwheel things that had chosen to be aided one of those annoying Galleon Hunters which had fired a tiro of plasma shots at her, quickly dashing through and absentmindedly cleaving the Hunter in twine, Aile raised a finger to her nose.

"I think somebody's talking about me again…."

"Focus Aile." Model Z pestered.

"Ack, Sorry."

* * *

"Yeah, it'd be pretty silly if she didn't." Cédre nodded, "I mean, she has some of the most advanced battle armor in the world. It'd be pretty sad if she didn't have something as simple as night vision in there."

"Can the chatter." Maquereau said, cutting them off from futher conversation, "We're going inside, watch out for pitfalls."

Stepping inside the pitch-black room, the squad either turned on their night vision on their already present visors, or for the ones that didn't, simply took out a flashlight and followed the other's lead. Navigating the dark area was surprisingly simple, there were a few gaps to jump over and a ladder that could easily have a misstep on and suffer a nasty fall, but that was easy enough for trained soldiers to circumvent by simply jumping down the shaft and landing without a hitch.

Soon enough, they had exited the corridor of darkness and came to a large and empty room, a faint pulse in the distance signaling the faint light that powered the rudimentary functions of the warehouse.

"Okay, we should be able to find something here. Take a look around and let's see if there's anything worth scavenging." Maquereau ordered, turning back to his squad. Who, in turn, wasn't even looking at him, they were all looking up, like there was…something….above him…..

Without turning around, the squad leader asked in a voiced filled with as much deadpan he could muster:

"There's a giant Mechaniloid behind me isn't there?"

A nod.

"And it's that Diadrake we thought Aile killed right?"

Another nod.

"Oh great."

Without looking behind him, Maquereau flung himself forward and yelled two words, "OPEN FIRE!"

* * *

**Hey Folks at Home, Outlaw here.**

**Thanks to all who reviewed, and as for the short chapters. It really depends on my "gut feeling." For instance, if I think a chapter should end here, such as this cliffhanger I'm teasing you with, it will. But if it should continue for longer, it will. Though I do plan on having longer chapters in the future, right now I'm trying to get into the swing of things. Take that as you will.  
**

**Anyways, please review and ask any questions you want! I'll try to answer to the best of my ability. Anyway, goodnight!  
**


	4. Heaven or Hell: Let's rock!

To his credit, the team responded as an effective firing squad. That being said, their general strategy to deal with this was basically, "Keep shooting until it stops moving or becomes a smoking husk. Whichever comes first."

This had to do largely with the fact that most Mechaniloid's had very good armor, being designed for warfare or military operations, such as large-scale ops or assaults. So small arms, such as plasma rifles or kinetic weapons, didn't do much overall damage, that being said, there were times when quantity was just as good as quality.

This was one of those times.

An opening salvo of plasma and rocket's belted the Diadrake's metal face. Forcing it back and letting out a electronic roar. Defying anyone close to it, the squad, for their part, let loose another barrage of firepower. Taking up flanking maneuvers, they circled around the beast of metal, plasma and bullets ripping into it's hide.

"Target the head!" Maquereau ordered, "That's it's weak point!"

"On it!" Cédre confirmed, opening up another shot with her rocket launcher, only for her it get a resounding, _click._

"Ah, crapbaskets." She muttered, then felt the shadow of the beast loom over her, "Oh, this is gonna…."

Letting out a wordless screech, the Diadrake swooped down on the redheaded Repliod, raising her launcher in a feeble defense, she felt a wave a pressure overwhelm her….and pulled her back?

"Get down!" Oeillet pulled them to ground level, the Diadrake narrowly missing their skulls and scrapping a large cut in Oeillet's helmet.

"Woof! Thanks Oeillet!" Cedre grinned, giving the pony tailed Guardian a thumbs up.

"Don't mention it!" Oeillet returned, shuffling to stand up.

Flying in an arc, the Diadrake turned in mid-air and began its descent again. The team, having picked up that staying in one place was obviously a very bad idea, scrambled around, seeking cover while trying to shoot the thing out of the sky.

Maquereau, throwing himself behind a crate, looked to Thon, who was readying his plasma cannon behind a much larger crate, "Hey! Can you take out's it's thrusters?" he called over.

Thon, ever ready to take on a challenge, nodded, "Aye! Give me a minute to charge!"

The reploid leader nodded, "Scombrésoce, Hareng, buy him some time!"

"On it!" Tossing Scombrésoce an extra clip for his incredibly old vintage shotgun, Hareng took a deep breath.

"What's the matter Blondie? Cold feet?" The older Repoild said, elbowing Hareng in the rib.

Rubbing the arm away, Hareng took aim with the circle blaze, "Do you?"

"Ha! Looks like you're getting some backbone after all." Tapping him on the back, Scom took the lead and charged towards the Diadrake, which was swooping in for another attack, only for the white haired reploid to slid neatly underneath it, scoring a shot under it's canopy as he slided on by. Letting out another electronic roar,

just in time for it to receive a blast of flame from Hareng.

"Take that you overgrown whoa!" Hareng scampered back as the Diadrake shot out a trio of bright crescent blades towards the blond, barely ducking out of the way in time, "Phew, that was-ah man!" Throwing himself out of the way, the odd crescent blades rebounded off the nearly wall as they went over the reploid, then suddenly doubled in number, each one ricocheting off the wall and going in opposite directions. Hareng's dodge was correct, but not fast enough, for one of the blades had nicked him smartly on the arm, drawing blood.

"Ugh," Hareng grumbled as he picked himself off the ground, grabbing his arm, and then felt his eye's widened as the Diadrake charged towards him, "Eep!" he said, throwing up his arms in a feeble defense.

Then, just like Cedre moments earlier, he felt himself being pulled back by…Truite?

"Y-you alright?" He asked, his teeth chattering in fear.

"Uh, yeah, thanks. I owe you one." Hareng said, temporarily stunned by the act.

* * *

"I- I hope A-Aile is having better luck then we are." He said, clutching his SMG tightly.

Aile barely dodged out of the way as a plasma shot nicked her helmet. Throwing herself to the ground and backing up to some cover offered by a power dome she readied the Zx buster.

"Sheesh, where'd they get these guys, Minions R Us?" Aile groaned, taking a peek at the massive horde of Galleons. While an individual one was no threat, an entire horde was another story entirely, "I mean, where do they get these guys? Why don't we have one?"

"Well…" Model H was about to say, but Aile cut him off.

"Don't you start!" She snapped, coming out to shoot another round at a Galleon who had gotten a little bit closer then she would have liked. The head exploded in a rather satisfying way.

"Sorry." Model H said sheepishly.

"It's fine, just a little high strung at the MOMENT!" Aile suddenly jumped up and over a Web Bolt and sliced it through, "Oh wow, that one nearly got ME!" She yelped, than threw herself back down behind the cover of the dome. Landing in a ungraceful mess, Aile rolled back to cover with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Well, at the very least, we know that Maquereau's squad is doing better then we are." Model L chirped, sounding cheery as always.

"Wait what?" Aile asked, dumbfounded, "Maquereau's squad?"

"Oh? You didn't know? Harupia picked up a transmission or two that said that Maquereau's squad was in Area I? Why? Worried about him?" Model L explained in a teasing voice.

"I'm more worried about myself at the moment." Aile replied, popping up and shooting a Mechadragon.

"Oh wow, Oeillet was right. You _are_ as dense as a rock."

"Hey!"

"Focus, Aile."

* * *

"How's it coming Thon?" Maquereau asked, taking a few pot shots at the Diadrake.

"Almost charged! Just a few more seconds!"

"Cédre!" Maquereau called, "You ready?!"

"Almost!" Cédre answered, looking around and patting her many pouches, "Come on, where'd I put it…"

"Looking for this?" Carrelet asked, holding up a rocket.

"Hey thanks! You give high powered explosives to all the girls?" Cédre said, winking at the blue haired reploid. Who in turn, blinked.

"What? Why would I do that? Your our explosives expert."

Cedre took a moment to look at him, "Wow, you're worse then Aile." Stuffing the one last rocket into her launcher, "There! Got it!" Shouldering her weapon, Cedre gave a devilish smirk as she flipped up the sights and took aim at the Diadrake. Which was trying it's hardest to smash or cut either Scombrésoce or Hareng while Oeillet and Truite were doing an excellent job of annoying it.

"Smile, you son of a-" Her curse was cut off as all six rockets were shot out at once. Each one twisting and twirling across the sky and going in sporadic directions, but despite all of that, each one found its mark against the target. Striking it against all sides and causing the Diadrake to roar yet again in defiance, temporarily stunned.

"Thon now!" Maquereau ordered.

"Alright! Boom baby!" With that, Thon jumped out from cover, and took aim with his very large plasma cannon, "When you want to kill ever last Maverick in the room..." He said, then pulled the trigger, and a powerful blue orb of pure plasma came out of the barrel, shooting towards the mechaniliod with blinding speed.

The Diadrake didn't _quite_ evaporate. But it sure came close.

"Accept no substitutes missy. Ha!" Thon said, letting out a big laugh as the Diadrake fell to the ground, a messy pile of parts and liquidized metal.

"Oh, shut up." Cedre said, punching Thon in the arm, and quickly regretted it, "Ow!"

"Ha!"

* * *

"Heavy plasma discharge at Area I. Heavy weapons have been used ma'am. Should I set up a Com link?" Tulip asked, clicking away rapidly at the console.

"Do it." Prairie agreed, narrowing her eyebrows. _What could have caused them to use Thon's plasma cannon? They shouldn't have encountered anything that could have warranted that….unless….._

"Squad leader, do you hear me? Report!...Maquereau?"

Silence, then a thick layer of static.

"T -s Squad leader Maqu-, how –py?"

"Can you clear this up?" Prairie asked, Tulip nodded.

"On it." Typing away, the blue haired Com specialist worked quickly.

"Sorry Maquereau, could you repeat?"

"Squad Leader Maquereau here. How copy?" Came in Maquereau's voice, now much clearer.

"Ah good. We're getting strong energy readings up here. What happened down there?" Pairaire asked, bringing up a screen of the squad and their preferred weapons, which also conveniently doubled as their identification symbol, aside from their faces that is, on her console.

Assault rifles for Maquereau and Carrelet, twin pistols for Oeillet, rocket launcher for Cédre, shotgun for Scombrésoce, semi auto for Hang, SMG for Truite, and finally, a plasma cannon for Thon. Who the blond Guardian leader quickly zoomed in on, showing the guardian's name, statistics, serial number, and other relevant information.

"We encountered the Diadrake ma'am. Had to put it down." The squad leader answered, "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to worry you ma'am."

"It's fine Maquereau, and please, just call me Prairie. I'm not that old."

"Whatever you say, Ma'am." Maq replied.

Sighing, Prairie rubbed her forehead, "Ugh, what's the status of the Maverick?"

"Toasted ma'am. It won't be bothering us any time soon."

"Copy that. Is the head unit intact? We may be able to scavenge some data off of it." She asked, tapping her chair's buttons to bring up the area map.

"Yeah, we-Hey! Cedre! Put that down! No! Don't play catch with it!" There were slight sounds of a quick tussle and some grappling, causing the bridge crew to either have a quick chuckle or giggle. Some things never changed.

"Heh, understood. How quickly can you return to base?"

"As soon as we get to the transceiver ma'am. Shouldn't we search for supplies?"

"No, you've done enough for today." Prairie said, then was quickly distracted by a blinking red light on her console.

"Call incoming from Aile. Should I route it in?" Tulip asked.

"Do it." Prairie nodded.

"Mave….Maver….Ho jeez…." Came in a very tired voice in panted breath.

"You alright Aile?"

"Yeah…just…out of breath….Oh man…where did they…get so many?" Trying not to smirk, Prairie spared a glance at the bridge crew, who were also trying not to laugh.

"Is the Maverick raid suppressed?" She asked, placing a hand to her chin and leaning on her chair.

"Y-yeah, a few wounded, but that's about it."

"That's good, send them to the Area entrance for transportation. We'll have a lifeboat pick them up." Prairie said, pressing a few buttons on her console, sending a prep order for a lifeboat to be readied.

"Okay." Aile agreed.

"Maquereau? You have the head?" Prairie asked, "Change of plans, regroup with Aile and prepare for the ride home to be on the lifeboat."

"Why does Maquereau have a head?" Aile asked, her voice sounded dumbfounded.

"Err…Well…." Maquereau, for once, seemed at a lost for words.

"It's the Diadrake Aile. Not an actual head." Prairie quickly said, saving the reploid from explaining it to his kinda-sorta crush. Yes, even Prairie could see it.

"Oh, I thought I destroyed it." Aile sounded a little put out by it, ah well. Kill counts were sorta a thing among field personal. It was natural, Prairie guessed, for Aile to find out one of her kills weren't confirmed, "That thing was a pain. I was hoping no one else had to go through that." Or they could be relentlessly nice and kind.

_Wow, when did I get so cynical? _Prairie thought, a little upset that her first thought was a kill count problem. "Well, it probably had a self repair function like the smaller Mavericks. Don't be worried about it."

"Right, Thon shot a plasma battery into its chest." Maquereau chimed in, obviously looking for a chance to impress Aile. Well, Prairie hopped it was the reason, she had energy crystals riding on this, "It's not getting back up anytime soon."

"Oh good, tell Thon I said thank you."

"R-right."

_Ouch, crash and burn._ The entire bridge crew thought at once.

"Anyway," Prairie chimed back in, "You know all what to do, see you soon."

"Right, see you guys back on the Grand Nuage." Aile said.

"Roger, be back-huh?" Prairie blinked, her brow beginning to crease in worry.

"Maquereau, what's going on?" She asked, subconsciously leaning forward.

"It's nothing. Hey! Carralet, what's…" The bridge crew quickly exchanged glances, then, over the radio, sounds of a scuffle and feet moving about could be heard throughout the loudspeaker.

"Maquereau?" Aile's voice came back, sounding worried.

"Enemy! Everybody open fir-" The line cut dead.

"MAQUEREAU!" Both Prairie and Aile shouted. Just like that, all four of the women in the bridge began to work furiously.

"Line's been jammed! EMP!" Tulip said, switching screens rapidly.

"Can't get a reading on biometrics! Unknown must be using specialized equipment!" Gardenia confirmed.

"There are no other squads in the Area! Only one who's closest is Aile!" Marguerite said, bringing up large-scale map of all the areas.

"Aile can you?" Prairie began.

"Already on it! Be there in three minutes!" Aile said, her blip on the map moving rapidly.

"Good, make contact with Maquereau's team and investigate whatever it is they're engaging." Prairie ordered, ever graceful under fire.

"Understood!"

"Come on Maq…Don't die on us now." Prairie said softly to .

* * *

Glancing the thin blade off of his much larger combat knife, Maquereua quickly scored a punch on his assailant. Pivoting, the squad leader brushed a finger against his damaged visor with his bleeding hand, gaining some distance between him and the freak wearing a red twin tailed scarf with black hair. A reploid, like him, who was a freaking ninja for crying out loud, who the hell was a ninja in this day and age?

"_CROSSCHECKING….DATA MATCH FOUND….SUBJECT IS SERGEANT MAUEREAU OF THE GUARDIANS….PROCEDDING WITH ELIMATION." _The ninja said with a cold, robotic voice.

_What. The. Hell. _

Maquereau felt a cold chill go up his spine as the freak spoke as if it was a computer. All right, an average reploid was still half robotic in the future, but this? This was insane, just who, or what, spoke like that?

Whatever the reason, he didn't give Maquereau enough time to ponder it. Leaping forward with insane speed, it's thin ninja blade held in reverse grip. The same style it had used to take out most of his squad and only leaving him as the last one standing.

"Not today!" With that shout of defiance, Maquereau ran forward to meet the freak. Holding his combat knife normally, he swung his arm back and prepared to clash blades against the black haired assassin.

This…was a mistake. Moving faster then Maquereau thought possible, the thing rolled leaped off of one foot and jumped clear over the reploid. Turing around, Maquereau tired to bring up his blade in defense. But no dice, quick as lightning, the thing cut a line clear across his visor and barely missing his eyes.

"You-!" Holding up a hand to his head to check for damage, he held his knife up horizontally in a defensive stance.

Normally, this would the time for the freak to spout of some line, like, "Failure." Or, "Disappointing." But no, he just moved forward like a shadow, and almost casually brushed aside Maquereau's blade and kicked him solidly in the stomach. Then a fist to the skull, then arms toss to the ground.

"Grk!" Maquereau could feel the taste of his blood in his mouth…that wasn't a good thing was it? "Go…to…hell…." He muttered from his position on the ground.

"_ELIMATING TARGET." _ The freak said in his completely robotic voice, holding his blade close to Maquereau's neck. A cold icy chill overcame the reploid as he looked at the blade from the damaged screens of his visor.

_Am I…going to die?...This sucks. _Maquereau thought, well, if anything, he was going to send his last few moments glaring in defiance to his killer. Not the best way to go out, but better then most.

Or, at least, it would have been, if not for the fact that the thing jumped back with blitzing speed to dodge a barrage of purple energy kunai.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Shouted a voice Maquereau was _very_ glad to hear.

Rushing forward in the Model Px armor was Aile. Obviously using its enhanced speed to close the distant between Area E and I. Though, quite frankly, at this moment, Maquereau didn't _care_ how she got here. So long as she was here, that was all that mattered.

Charging Model Px's special weapon, Aile flung an energy shuriken towards the ninja. Who, in turn, dodged the thing, but not without a nice cut across his chest.

_Serves ya right, you bastard._ Maquereau thought grimly, happy to see that his enemy was mortal after all.

Stepping in front of the fallen reploid, Aile quickly changed back to the Zx armor and aimed the Zx buster at the ninja, "Who are you?!" She demanded.

He, it, didn't respond the way Aile would've liked.

"_CROSSCHECKING….DATA MATCH FOUND….SUBJECT IS MEGA MAN MODEL X FUSED WITH Z….PROCCEDDING WITH RETEART." _ Quickly grabbing something round out of his pouch, the ninja threw it down in front of him.

As soon as the round pellet hit the ground, a bright, blinding light encapsulated the room. No, it wasn't light. It was shadow. The opposite of a flash bang with the same effect, instead of making the environment too difficult to see due to bright light, it was a black shadow that made seeing simply impossible. But soon enough, like shadows must, it went away when Aile charged forward with the Zx saber. The green blade cutting through the dark like a torch, and found nothing to meet its edge.

"Blast!" Aile swore, finding nothing on the other side of the screen. Then quickly ran back to Maquereau, who had laid over on his back and looked at the celling when Aile had taken control of the situation.

Or, at least, he hoped she did. It was getting kinda hard to think right now.

"Hey! Stay with me!" Propping up his head on her knee, she quickly removed the damaged helmet and threw it aside.

"Heh, it must look bad." He said, moving up a hand to check on his face.

Aile grabbed it, "Don't try to speak, you need to save your strength."

Maquereau just smiled weakly, his red hair and light green eyes now seeable, with the left one with a long scar over it thanks to the ninja's blade.

"How are the others?" He asked, trying to sit up, only to be pushed back down by Aile.

Aile quickly took a head count, and sighed in relief. "They're fine. Just knocked out, I guess he was planning on killing you guys when you were unconscious."

"No." Maquereau said, "He was just going with whatever came first…He wanted the Diadrake's head, that was his main target."

"Are you sure?" Aile asked, cradling his head.

"Yeah, he went after Carrelet first. He had the thing." He explained, trying to look at the second in command, "He must have wanted the data on it. No idea why…"

"Hey, Maquereau, don't talk. Just…try to get some sleep."

"Sleep…sounds good." Smiling at Aile, the leader closed in his eyes in contentment.

Sighing, Aile placed a finger to her headset, "Aile to Grand Nuage. Need pickup."

Prairie's voice came in, "Are there any-"

"No. Just wounded." Aile cut her off.

"I see. Understood. Sending Dorado's squad to your location."

"Thanks Paririe."

* * *

**Author notes**

**Well, you wanted longer chapters, and I hope I've delivered. Thanks to all who reviewed or looked over this story! It really helps to see that somebody has taken an interest in my work. And yes, the other Biometal matches will probably make an appearance over the course of the story. Though, probably not in the way most people would suspect. Anyway, thanks again. And please, review!**

**Truly wandering, Outlaw.**


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